The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a disconnect assembly of a rotating machine and, more particularly, to a disconnect assembly of a rotating machine with an internally packaged bearing.
Typically, rotating machines such as generators are driven directly or by way of engine gearboxes or other driving elements via a rotatable input shaft. The rotation of this input shaft is transferred to a main rotation shaft within the rotating machine by a clutch and when the clutch is disengaged, the transfer of rotation from the input shaft to the main rotation shaft is prevented.
Normally, the portion of the input shaft extending into the rotating machine is supported by a disconnect bearing disposed on an outer diameter of the input shaft. In this position, the disconnect bearing drives a sizing envelope of the overall system, has high operational velocities and cannot be lubricated efficiently. This leads to correspondingly large overall systems that have relatively short service lifetimes.